PAULSBORO — Gov. Chris Christie is in town this morning at the site of the future Port of Paulsboro to sign into law a bill that promotes offshore wind power and the economic growth it could bring to New Jersey.

The bill A-2873, known as the "Offshore Wind Economic Development Act," is sponsored in part by Assemblyman John Burzichelli, who is also mayor of Paulsboro. The bill establishes an offshore wind renewable energy certificate program and authorizes the Economic Development Authority to provide up to $100 million in tax credits for wind energy facilities.

New Jersey was recently among 10 states to sign an agreement establishing an Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium to help facilitate federal-state cooperation for commercial wind development on the Outer Continental Shelf off of the Atlantic coast.

"This is an important economic development law, not only for places like the Paulsboro Marine Terminal, but all of New Jersey," said Burzichelli. "Offshore wind projects would create significant economic development and environmental benefits for the state, but those benefits must be balanced with the cost and the overall impact upon the state. This law ensures that developing offshore wind projects provides positive benefits both economically and environmentally for New Jersey."

The law directs the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to develop an offshore wind renewable energy certificate program to require that a percentage of electricity sold in the state be from offshore wind energy. This percentage will be developed to support at least 1,100 megawatts of generation from qualified offshore wind projects.